登陆注册
5260500000147

第147章 XVII(3)

The Cure's niece was buried there. She was the prettiest girl in Beaufort, it seemed, and she had a love affair with a German officer and disgraced the town. He was a young Bavarian, quartered with this same old woman who told them the story, and she said he was a nice boy, handsome and gentle, and used to sit up half the night in the garden with his head in his hands--homesick, lovesick. He was always after this Marie Louise; never pressed her, but was always there, grew up out of the ground under her feet, the old woman said. The girl hated Germans, like all the rest, and flouted him. He was sent to the front. Then he came back, sick and almost deaf, after one of the slaughters at Verdun, and stayed a long while. That spring a story got about that some woman met him at night in the German graveyard. The Germans had taken the land behind the church for their cemetery, and it joined the wall of the Cure's garden. When the women went out into the fields to plant the crops, Marie Louise used to slip away from the others and meet her Bavarian in the forest. The girls were sure of it now; and they treated her with disdain. But nobody was brave enough to say anything to the Cure. One day, when she was with her Bavarian in the wood, she snatched up his revolver from the ground and shot herself. She was a Frenchwoman at heart, their hostess said.

"And the Bavarian?" Claude asked David later. The story had become so complicated he could not follow it.

"He justified her, and promptly. He took the same pistol and shot himself through the temples. His orderly, stationed at the edge of the thicket to keep watch, heard the first shot and ran toward them. He saw the officer take up the smoking pistol and turn it on himself. But the Kommandant couldn't believe that one of his officers had so much feeling. He held an enquete, dragged the girl's mother and uncle into court, and tried to establish that they were in conspiracy with her to seduce and murder a German officer. The orderly was made to tell the whole story; how and where they began to meet. Though he wasn't very delicate about the details he divulged, he stuck to his statement that he saw Lieutenant Muller shoot himself with his own hand, and the Kommandant failed to prove his case. The old Cure had known nothing of all this until he heard it aired in the military court. Marie Louise had lived in his house since she was a child, and was like his daughter. He had a stroke or something, and has been like this ever since. The girl's friends forgave her, and when she was buried off alone by the hedge, they began to take flowers to her grave. The Kommandant put up an affiche on the hedge, forbidding any one to decorate the grave. Apparently, nothing during the German occupation stirred up more feeling than poor Marie Louise."

It would stir anybody, Claude reflected. There was her lonely little grave, the shadow of the privet hedge falling across it.

There, at the foot of the Cure's garden, was the German cemetery, with heavy cement crosses,--some of them with long inscriptions; lines from their poets, and couplets from old hymns. Lieutenant Muller was there somewhere, probably. Strange, how their story stood out in a world of suffering. That was a kind of misery he hadn't happened to think of before; but the same thing must have occurred again and again in the occupied territory. He would never forget the Cure's hands, his dim, suffering eyes.

Claude recognized David crossing the pavement in front of the church, and went back to meet him.

"Hello! I mistook you for Hicks at first. I thought he might be out here." David sat down on the steps and lit a cigarette.

"So did I. I came out to look for him."

"Oh, I expect he's found some shoulder to cry on. Do you realize, Claude, you and I are the only men in the Company who haven't got engaged? Some of the married men have got engaged twice. It's a good thing we're pulling out, or we'd have banns and a bunch of christenings to look after." "All the same," murmured Claude, "I like the women of this country, as far as I've seen them." While they sat smoking in silence, his mind went back to the quiet scene he had watched on the steps of that other church, on his first night in France; the country girl in the moonlight, bending over her sick soldier.

When they walked back across the square, over the crackling leaves, the dance was breaking up. Oscar was playing "Home, Sweet Home," for the last waltz.

"Le dernier baiser," said David. "Well, tomorrow we'll be gone, and the chances are we won't come back this way."

同类推荐
  • Sense and Sensibility

    Sense and Sensibility

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 静学文集

    静学文集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说弥勒下生经

    佛说弥勒下生经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Theologico-Political Treatise P2

    Theologico-Political Treatise P2

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清黄庭养神经

    上清黄庭养神经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 两个炮手的罗曼史

    两个炮手的罗曼史

    马三炮一直目送着茶花小鸟般的回到女伴们身边,然后看着她们各自端着盆或拎着桶说说笑笑地离去。她们的背影也很好看,尤其是茶花,走动时水红衬衣形成的皱襞来回不断地变化着,怎么变化都很好看,恰到好处地好看,像风摆杨柳,弄得人心头秫秫的痒痒的。在拐弯的尽头,他看见茶花还有意无意地回头望了一眼,好像还浅浅地笑了一下。马三炮心里就咯噔一下:回眸一笑百媚生啊!
  • 两垣奏议

    两垣奏议

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 轮回锁之不忘

    轮回锁之不忘

    因为欠宋鹤一命,馥容被他一世又一世地追来讨债。然而每当她受到伤害时,溥之麟就会出现在她身边。溥之麟说他早已在轮回里守护了她一世又一世……楔子数九寒天,除夕将近。昨夜降了一场大雪,大晟国皇城内外,银装素裹。皇宫中用于祭天仪式的祈天台中间,一个柴堆已然架起,有兵士在往柴堆上淋火油。中间的木柱上捆了一名清丽女子。尽管被捆绑着,她还是尽量地扬起傲然的头颅。祈天台下不远处传来对话声。
  • 玉颜局

    玉颜局

    本书讲述一个女子数次穿越古代,寻找因果、寻求爱情、解析轮回、探求人生意义的一部多卷小说。小说将分骗子入宫记、逼婚重生记、智斗小三记、姐弟畸爱记等几部分卷故事来讲述小说的中心思想。对于女主来说,人生的意义在哪呢?爱情的根本又是什么呢?笔者以为世间讲究轮回因果,一切结果都有其成因,为了幸福应该争取属于自己的东西,但一定要注意做人起码要学会谨慎和收敛,毕竟当你觉得自己风光无限的时候,也许就将会是你最倒霉的时候,这就是轮回的概念。本部小说涵盖多种古言题材,包括宫斗、宅斗、种田、攻心、阴谋、推理等各种方面的大杂烩,是笔者对于古言小说的一种尝试、或者叫创新。第一卷故事流程穿越到大明成化年间的女子,误以为自己就是一个民间的女骗子,经过数个布局解套不小心进入皇宫,冒名顶替成为万妃,经历后宫里风雨,发现真正的万贵妃后,为了探求自己来到这里的根源,掀开自己与爱情、男人们的溯源。第二卷故事流程大致内容是穿越来到宋末元初的一个商贾人家,作为这家人的侄女,见到家里的每个人的嘴脸,选择胡公子后却遭遇到异族攻击而城破,自己也被二叔乐府城以保全名节为由吊死。再次重生在这个时代,化身为乐家里的庶女,巧妙躲开亲事和各种纠葛。与铁木真在城里偶遇,逃离开大城后,被高富帅的白丁诳进中都。她巧借令箭除掉陈记和金公子为嫣儿报仇,设计搞垮乐府城将娘亲素巧扶正;对于白丁与铁木真的爱情选择犹豫不决,人生最为得意之时却未防住小人的加害而再次命丧黄泉。第三卷故事流程讲述女主变成一个没有家底、没有势力、没有样貌的三无普通女子,再同各方面都优于自己的小三争斗中,利用自身魅力,巧用计谋,取得尊严,然后摒弃渣男的故事。
  • 贞观祸害

    贞观祸害

    贞观四年,一代祸害横空穿越,成为一代贤相杜如晦的长子杜构,开始了没羞没臊的幸福生活。这是一个祸害闹出来的传奇故事!这是一个祸害玩出来的全新时代!这是一个祸害闯出来的盛世大唐!这是一本轻松搞笑种田文,在史书打扮的历史中信笔涂鸦!书友群:640299482
  • 陛下的娇蛮弃妃

    陛下的娇蛮弃妃

    新文《穿书后我给反派当继母》已开,求各位小可爱支持~她是21世纪王牌特工杀手,一觉醒来,成为弃妃不说,眼前还有一只猛虎正张着血盆大口要吃她。然而她刚从虎口逃生,转身却落进这个暴君手里。他一逼再逼,她一退再退,退无可退之际,她决定跑。他却用一道圣旨给她玩起了囚禁play。“什么?侍寝?”她冷笑,指间寒光闪簇,眸底涌起嗜血寒光,“不怕被阉,就放马过来。”他一把握住她的手腕,将她压在床榻间,似笑非笑,“原来爱妃这样重口,非要见血?”一夜之后,他对她食髓知味,对她一宠再宠。”“暴君,你的节操呢?”“不好意思,它正处于离线状态!”(1v1,双洁,甜宠~)
  • 御园漫步:皇家园林的情趣

    御园漫步:皇家园林的情趣

    《御园漫步:皇家园林的情趣》是我国著名园林专家耿刘同先生的皇家园林文化随笔。由于作者诗画兼善,所以从中我们看到的不仅仅是一位专家学者对附着在皇家园林景点景名或者建筑宗旨诸方面文化内涵的解读,更是一位诗人画家独具特色的艺术的描绘。
  • 猫灵咖啡

    猫灵咖啡

    一座位于城市角落的酒吧,只在凌晨三点三十三分营业,里面充满着许多不为人知的秘密,这里有酒,也有故事,来这里的人,互不相识,却有着千丝万缕的联系,他们就是故事。
  • 空中客车:一个真实的故事

    空中客车:一个真实的故事

    《空中客车——一个真实的故事》讲述了空中客车公司如何从民机行业的小兄弟一跃成为行业翘楚这一奇迹背后的故事,生动地描述了公司如何克服多国合作伙伴之间的体制矛盾和政府压力,展示了公司在世界民机市场上挑战强者的百折不挠的精神。全书可以说是欧洲民用航空工业整合的发展简史,是欧洲航空工业与美国航空工业的竞争简史。
  • 锦绣帝妃

    锦绣帝妃

    推荐完结古言《茉乱帝凰》她是殷家医女,爱的却是战功赫赫的狮狼。他救过她,亦要她的命!他曾说揭下他面具的女人只有她一个,她也把天下间最为尊贵的帝王玩弄于股掌。从医满天下到占山为匪,从欺君之罪到身陷囹圄,从旌旗十万到诱君入瓮……